The procurement contact named on the official notice.

Background Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared services providers in Europe delivering corporate HR, payroll, Armed Forces Pensions and Compensation, Finance, and Information Services for both civilian and military personnel in the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The services detailed for military personnel are currently provided by a 3rd party provider in an aggregated model, the contract for which, expires in May 2027.

DBS is undertaking a significant programme of change which will alter our future delivery model and result in a disaggregation of current services.

At this time, DBS is keen to engage with the market to identify potential future solutions which specifically focus on Pensions and Compensation elements, collectively referred to as Military Pensions and Associated Services (MPAS).

Further engagements may take place for the non-pension and compensation elements of the current contract as the overall design develops, and these will be advertised as future requirements emerge.

On this occasion, however, only Pensions and Compensation services will be the focus of this market engagement.

Military Pensions is one of the largest UK public sector schemes with over 1.2m members.

Administration of Military Pensions is currently provided by the 3rd party provider and the administration of Compensation services (but not the IT system) is delivered through an in-house capability.

There is no current ambition to change this arrangement, and for this reason, only Pensions is in scope for the future administration element of the MPAS requirement.

Payment arrangements for both Pensions and Compensation are provided by the 3rd party provider and are both within scope of the MPAS requirement.

Military Pensions involves multiple pensions schemes, further information on these is detailed in the accompanying information pack.

DBS aligns with government’s Digital by Default ambition, which means that where possible, the services provided must be so intuitive and convenient that all those who can use them will choose to do so, and those who are unable to use them are not excluded.

Services therefore need to provided that are accessible for all our customers without exception.

Reliability and security are of paramount importance to DBS, any potential solution must align to the principles detailed in the government’s Secure by Design policy.

The purpose of this notice is to: a)Inform the market that DBS is considering undertaking a competitive tendering exercise to award a new contract for the provision of in-scope Military Pensions and Compensation services. b)Invite potential providers to register for a market engagement exercise which will focus on several key themes to help DBS plan the approach to a future tendering exercise.

Timescales The market engagement process is as follows: •Parties who are interested in participating in a closed engagement event in accordance with this notice should firstly register their interest by requesting an information pack from DBS-PD-MPAS-Team@mod.gov.uk.

Responses to the questions should be returned by no later than 24/01/2025. •Bilateral discussions will take place between 27/01/2025 – 07/02/2025. •If DBS progresses this requirement, a notice seeking expressions of interest is likely to be published in Summer 2025. •It is currently anticipated that service commencement will align to the contract expiry of the current service provider on 31/05/ 2027, although this may be subject to change.

Confidentiality Any registered supplier who proceeds to participate in a bilateral discussion will be required to enter into a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with the MOD.

Refusal will preclude participation in the engagement event(s).

Disclaimer In issuing this notice and engaging with the market, the MOD is not committing to any procurement in relation to the requirements stated in this PIN.

Any procurement shall be subject to contract.